Not a dream
by bellalavanima
Summary: A person is sent back to the time of Ayla, I know its been done before, but I had all these ideas about what they would think about our society.
1. San Francisco Earthquake

There was no chance of escaping from her room, not with the dresser fallen in front of the door. She had been reading when the shaking started. The earthquake tremors shook every so often, causing things to fly at her from shelves and drawers. She couldn't seem to keep her footing. The roof wasn't falling in, but she couldn't bear everything flying off the shelves at her. The last tremor shook and she fell, her book flying out of her hand. Then there was black.  
She woke up to the sound of chirping birds and wondered if there had always been so many birds in San Francisco. As she brushed her hair off of her face she felt the dried blood from the gash on her forehead. When she tried to stand up she felt shaky and collapsed back onto her bed. What she saw out the window in the corner of her eye made her feel shakier then the loss of blood.  
It was dawn, probably three in the morning, but this sunrise was unlike any she had ever seen. It rose over the trees and the rocks and into a clear and unpolluted sky. Then there was that mass of stone, with the top seemed to be ripped off and suspended in the sky. Somehow she thought she knew this place, but she couldn't understand how. She put her hand on the table by her bed to steady herself and it landed on the book she had been reading the night before. There it was, the reason she knew that mass of stone. It was an exact drawing right above the title of her book, The Shelters of Stone. 


	2. Questions

What was she doing in her house still if she was now across from the third cave of the Zelandonii? As Marie turned her head she realized that the light was still on. The light couldn't still be on if she had traveled back in time to the ice age, and how would her house get there with her? All of this was impossible, she must be dreaming. She lay back down on her bed and closed her eyes.  
When she awoke it was night, but the light was still on. She didn't trust herself to look out the window. She silently wished that she was still by the third cave, but doubted it was true and worried if it might be. When she turned her head to look out the window she realized she couldn't see anything. Well of course she couldn't, it was nighttime, but she could always see things in San Francisco because of the streetlights. Maybe there was a power outage, but then how was her light on? It could be that the generator was on, but wouldn't other people have their generators on? Maybe some prankster had unscrewed all the light bulbs in the street lamps, no that didn't make any sense.  
She could always turn on the news to find out. It worked! The television was actually working. There was a man sitting there talking about the weather. How an earthquake was expected. Expected? The earthquake already happened...or maybe that was a dream too. She listened more intently.  
"An earthquake is expected for Friday April 30th, be prepared people. Now back to Lindsey." April 30th was yesterday. Her clock said that it was 2 pm, that meant today was May 1st. Marie wearily sat back down on her bed. That didn't explain anything. 


	3. Ayla

Ayla grabbed Jondalar's arm in fear. She had never liked earthquakes, but this one was especially bad. They always brought on frightening dreams, and this dream was unlike any she had ever had before.  
She was standing in a dark cave alone and confused. Suddenly a girl entered wearing the strangest garments she had ever seen. They resembled Marthona's garments made of grasses, but they were made in strange colors with strange symbols. The girl grasped her hand and led her out of the cave. There was everyone she had ever known, except the people of the clan. They all wore the strange garments, and they were in the strangest dwelling she had ever seen. The walls were completely straight and an impossible white. They were squares in the walls that allowed one to see outside. What she saw was not the world she knew, but a gray and black world. The only thing she recognized was a blue sky.  
Jondalar awoke and turned to Ayla, who was still asleep. Her brows were knotted in concentration, but there was a hint of fear lurking on her face. He never knew whether to wake her or let her be. Suddenly she sat up, gasping for breath. Jondalar looked at her questioningly, but she didn't know how to explain.  
Throughout the next day she felt that something was amiss. Her mind kept wandering back to her strange dream. What did it mean? What were those strange dwellings that were too perfect to be caves, but were still made of rocks. What did it mean that everyone she knew wore those strange garments? And how was that dwelling so incredibly white and perfect, with perfect holes peering into a strange world? Nothing made sense. At one point Ayla considered wandering away from the cave so that she could be alone with her thoughts, then Proleva came and asked to help with cooking and she abandoned that idea.  
If Ayla had decided to wander she would have come across Marie's home. If she had the courage to enter and found her way to Marie's room she would have found Marie sleeping. For, in fact, Marie slept throughout the day following the earthquake. Her body was weak and the only way she could gain back her strength was from a long sleep. But, unfortunately, Ayla decided not to wander so Marie and Ayla would have to meet another way. 


	4. Discovered

Throughout the coming days Ayla was troubled because of her dream, but not as troubled as Marie. She had been alone in her room for quite awhile. Exactly how long she couldn't say. Every spare moment she fretted over what to do. Should she wander out to the cave of the Zelandonii? If she did what would she say? How would she explain what happened and who she was? Would she even be able to communicate to them?

She turned on the TV many times throughout the day but all she saw was the programming for April 30th. It seemed that April 30th kept repeating. That was strange enough, besides the fact that she was outside the cave of the Zelandonii and her TV was working. The even stranger thing was that her Internet was working too. She never received new emails and all the dates read "April 30th", but she could access any website she wanted to. She thought she might be going crazy. She wished she could make sense of it all. She wanted to just talk to the Zelandonii, understand why she was there and have all her questions answered.

Many times she made her way to the front door of her house and grasped the handle, ready to venture out into the ancient world. She could never make herself turn the handle no matter how long she stood there. Soon she wouldn't have to worry about deciding whether or not to leave the safety of her home. That decision would be made for her.

Matthor was making his way through the woods looking for small game to hunt. He was not old enough to be included in the smaller hunts so he was expected to join in the activities of the men who had seen sixteen summers, just as he had. Their activities did not interest him, and they did not go out of their way to make him feel included. He had always been different, ever since he had joined their cave when he was six. His mother had appeared to them in a snowstorm with a young child. She died before the next moon and he had always been a bit of a burden. Sometimes he wondered what his mother looked like and where she was from, but she had been too delirious to give any such information before she passed away. His daydreaming was interrupted by a strange sound up ahead. He froze to listen more closely.

"We have some heavy rain moving in from the North, but it should pass by Wednesday..." There was a pause and then the sound continued.

"Vamos a comprar comida para esta noche." Then there was silence again. Matthor moved closer to where the noise had been coming from. What met his eyes was not what he had expected.

Marie threw down the remote and wearily fell back onto her bed. She couldn't concentrate on doing anything; she was too confused as to what she should do. She turned to look out at the cave of the Zelandonii again, but was surprised to find someone looking back at her. She gasped and pulled away from the window. There was no avoiding meeting the Zelandonii now; they knew she was there and would obviously want an explanation. She took a deep breath and opened her window. She opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Who's there? Who's there?" cried out the young man she was staring down at.

"My...my name is Marie," she answered shakily. He appeared confused as to what he should say next. "Stay there," she yelled to him "I'm coming down." When she stepped out of the door she saw in his face how surprised he was by her appearance. She looked down at what she was wearing, a red, screened t-shirt and jeans.

_Well that should be easy to explain,_ she thought to herself. When she reached him she saw that he was very wary of her. His hand was gripping a hunting knife that he had half pulled out of the sheaf.

"Please, I'm not trying to hurt you or your people. I know that I must look suspicious, but honestly I mean no harm to anyone. I don't know what I'm doing here or where I am or what day it is and I'm very, very confused. I just woke up here and everything is just so...." She couldn't go on and fell to her knees, tears rolling down her cheeks. Seeing how suspicious he was of her she realized just how difficult this would be. Would these people ever trust her? She felt foolish crying like this, but she couldn't contain herself. A few moments after she had started crying and knelt down toward her. His hand was no longer holding his knife and he looked genuinely concerned.

"Let me take you to Zelandonii. She can help you." Marie nodded to him as she wiped her eyes. She pulled him back before they continued walking.

"Before we go, could you promise me something?" He nodded and she continued. "Will you not tell Zelandonii about my...dwelling?" He nodded again and led her through the woods to the Fifth Cave of the Zelandonii.


End file.
